Upcycling discards into new treasures.

Category Archives: renaissance

As you already know, my family and I went to the Northern California Renaissance Faire this past weekend. We ate good food, rode a giant swing, took in a parrot show, saw the Queen’s Parade and had a great time.

My boyfriend, Chris, already has a costume that he purchased several years ago. This made it easy for me because I had instant inspiration for my son’s costume!

For my son, Glenn, we bought a white turtleneck, black elastic waist pants and a poly-suede men’s casual shirt from the Salvation Army.

I cut the neck plus a little bit extra from the turtle neck shirt. I had some leather cord in my craft supplies which I sewed around the new neck of the shirt. Then, I cut the collar from the poly-suede shirt and used my seam ripper to remove the sleeves and the front pockets to make a vest. The pants needed no work at all. Except for the time it took to hand sew the leather to the white shirt, this was super easy to make and I love the results!

The Queen’s Parade

The Queen

Okay, so I am done with RenFaire posts (until next year!). We had a blast and I highly recommend summoning your creative side and making costumes with second hand clothing and/or craft materials you have. It was inexpensive and easy!

We went to the Renaissance Faire today and we had so much fun! The costumes worked out great. In fact, I was called a “tease” because I showed my calves and not my ankles. We shopped, ate well and enjoyed the fabulous people watching.

My daughter dressed as a pirate for the faire. I found her blouse and vest at the Salvation Army and she wore her black skinny pants and my hand-me-down black boots. I made for her a bag to tie around her waist to carry her valuables.

Fumiko had found the collar of the white blouse to be irritating so I removed it. She layered the black vest over the white blouse. It fit perfectly so all we did was to tuck the collar back into the shirt to hide it.

This Saturday (9/18/10) is the opening weekend for the Northern California Renaissance Faire at Casa De Fruta in Gilroy. I promised to take the family there and we cannot wait to go! We plan to get into the spirit of the RenFaire and, rather than rent or purchase costumes, plan to make our own costumes. My boyfriend already has his costume so it is just me and the kids who have to get creative. We plan to go to the Salvation Army this evening to shop for suitable clothing to transform. My inspiration for my costume is this costume by Zoogster Costumes.

My plan is to find a long, flowy skirt, vest and a blousy top. Then I’ll layer the skirt with a piece of cloth for the apron and add a belt and suede boots. As for the kids, I suppose that will remain to be seen. I will post an update as to how these costumes turn out!